Grain-door.



Y E. TH'MPSN,

GRAN DOOR.

APPLNATION FILED MR` 9, 1908.

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M1111* 'il 4 -1 I af www! T o all whom it may concern.'

Ee it lrnown that l, HANS THOMPSON, of Minneapolis, Hennepin county, Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful linproveinents in Grain-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to grain doors for freight cars and the object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of simple construction, easily applied to any type of freight car and thoroughly grain tight.

A further object is to provide a. door which will perinit the car to be used for merchandise or other goods, and in unloading the carcan be swung to a position where it will not interfere with the work of reinoving goods frein the car or loading thein therein, and cannot become broken or daniaged.

Other objects of the invention will appear froin the following detailed description.

rllhe invention consists generally in various constructions and combinations, all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claiins.

ln the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification; Figure l is an outside view of a portion of a freight car showing my invention applied thereto. F ig. 2 'is a longitudinal sectional view of the saine. F ig. 8 is a detail sectional view illustrating one side of the door swung outwardly to an open position. Fig. l is a detail view illustrating a portion of the hinge by ineans of which each door section is supported on the side of the car.

In the drawing, 2 represents the door sill, 3 the side wall of the car and il the door opening. The grain door is coinposed of two sections arranged upon opposite sides of the opening, each section being composed of comparatively narrow leaves hinged together and adapted to be folded one upon another to collapse the door. rlhe end leaves 5 are fastened by any suitable ineans to the side of the car and are provided with hinge elements 6 on one edge, which have inclined or cam surfaces 7 that are engaged by hinge element-s 8 on the adjoining leaf 9, a pivot rod 10 passing through said elements and holding them together while permitting the leaf 9 and the others connected thereto to be swung back and forth to open or close the door section. A series of the leaves 9 are provided having hinoes 11 con- Speoeaton of `Letteus Z'atent.

Application filed March 9, 15H38.

Serial lt 0. dGfGG.

necting the adjoining edges together, said leaves being comparatively narrow and the hinges permitting theni to be folded sufficiently one against another to open the door or swing it to a point where it will not interfere with the loading or unloading of the car. rihese leaves are preferably of instal though any suitable inaterial may be used, and they are inounted on the car so that one of the hinges 1l will be opposite the edge of the door opening on each side and allow the leaves to be swung outwardly and against the side the car, as indicated in Fig. 3, wheny they will not interfere with the loading of merchandise into the car or its reinoval therefrom.

rlhe leaf 5 is set back away from the door opening so that when the door sections are swung inwardly there will be no obstruction to the door opening, and as the leaves are swung inward the hinge eleinents S will ride on the inclined surfaces 7, and the door sections will be raised oil the floor and the operation of opening the door will he greatly facilitated.

For the purpose of locking the door sections in their closed position l arrange two of the adjoining leaves so that they will lap by one another, as indicated in Fig. 2, one leaf being' provided with slots l2 to receive staples 13 on the other leaf. A plate ld is pivoted on one of the leaves and levers l5 are secured on said plate, and bolts i6 are pivotally mounted thereon and adapted. to slide in guides l? on the door leaf and enter the staples 13 and loclr the lapping leaves of the door together. The free ends of the levers l5 are adapted to pass behind straps i8 that are secured at one end to the door sections, and a spring i9 is niounted on one of the door leaves in position to engage one of the levers and hold the sliding bolts in locking engagement with the staples i3. lli/Thenever desired levers inay be oscillated on their pivot to relasc the door sections and perinitthe leaves to be folded baclt one upon another and open the door.

Small door sections QG are provided at the lower end of each of the lapping leaves and are normally held in place by the sliding bolt lo. Upon the upward inoveinent of this bolt the door sec-tions inay be swung outwardly to permit the discharge of the grain. rlhe levers l5 are of suflicient length to brace the door sections and hold thorn in aline- L. the

nient with one another, thus preventingthe door from being bulged outwardly by the pressure of the grain.

l claim as my invention:

1. grain door for freight cars, comprising two sections each composed of a series of narrow leaves having their vertical edges hinged together, each section being hinged on the inside of the car and having their abutting vertical edges arranged to lap by one another near the middle of the door opening when the sections are in their closed position, one of said lapping sections having staples fitting within slots in the other lapping section, a plate aivoted on one of said sections, bolts carried by said plate and vertically slidable in guides and in said staples and levers secured 'to said plate and extending transversely of the verti ally hinged sections and having means for securing thein against premature movement, substantially as described.

grain door, for freight cars, comprising two sections, each composed of a series of narrow leaves having their vertical edges hinged together, each section being hinged on the inside of the car and at a distance from the door opening corresponding substantially with the width of one of the leaves whereby a hinge will be provided on each side at the edge of the door opening, and said sections be capable of swinging inwardly or outwardly, and said leaves being of greater width than the thickness of the car wall, and permitting the sections to be swung back against the wall on the outside of the car, substantially as described.

il grain door for freight cars comprising two sections, each composed of a series of narrow leaves having their vertical edges hinged together, and each section being hinged to the car wall upon opposite sides of the door opening, the abutting edges of said sections lapping by one another a distance equal substantially to the width of one of the leaves, and one lapping leaf having staples thereon adapted to enter slots in the other lapping leaf, bolts vertically slidable in guides on said other lapping leaf and adapted to enter said staples, means pivotally connected with said bolts for operating them, and aid means extending transversely of the door sections to brace the sections and hold them in alineinent with one another.

in witness whereof, i have hereunto set. my hand this 12th day of February 1908.

HANS THOMFSGN.

lllitnesses Bionaire PxljL, J. A. BYINGTON. 

